It is well known that there are various situations where a person has several open containers with various items, such as nails, bolts, and liquids, such as paint. These and other hardware and liquid products are desired at a particular work site or the like, and the person would have to transport and then position the containers one by one, and to re-position the containers when another location is desired.
The object of the present invention is to provide a carrier which can receive open containers for transporting various loose items or liquids to a work site or the like. The containers can be ordinary cans which are in common use by consumers of canned goods, and in these instances the cans will have been opened and emptied and their open tops are available for entrapment by the carrier so that the containers can be readily received and removed relative to the carrier. Still further, the carrier is arranged so that it can be adjusted to accommodate containers or cans of different heights.
Also, the carrier of this invention is arranged so that it can accommodate a plurality of ordinary household type of cans, and in the one embodiment of the carrier six ordinary cans can be accommodated, for instance. The containers can be of different heights and diameters, on one carrier.
Still further, the carrier of this invention is arranged to be inexpensive, light weight, and of a very minimal overall size so that it occupies only a minimal space, but yet is stable and sturdy for the purposes mentioned and required. Still further, the carrier is arranged so that two or more of the carriers can be vertically stacked upon each other and they retain their standing stability in the stacked position particularly when the containers supported by the carriers are balanced on opposite sides of the carrier.
The prior art is already aware of container carriers such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,203,581 and 4,560,064 and 4,778,210. The present invention differs from those disclosures in that the present invention provides the container carrier which has a lower shelf for supporting the container or can and which has upper slots or fingers for receiving or engaging the upper open end of the container. Still further, the present invention provides for the easy and quick insertion and removal of the containers relative to the carrier, and it provides for an adjustment in the overall height of the carrier to thereby support and accommodate containers of various heights. Finally, the other aforementioned features of this invention also distinguish this invention over the aforementioned prior art.